


The Spider and the Cavalry, Part 1

by CleverMagnificentCoyote



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 03:06:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3365420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CleverMagnificentCoyote/pseuds/CleverMagnificentCoyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha Romanov is on a simple retrieval mission: recover Agent May and data from the tesseract core. Complications ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Spider and the Cavalry, Part 1

Melinda May matched her profile: 5'6, Asian, and splattered in blood from bashing and kicking her way out of a retreating ring of soldiers who had just realized that one escaped prisoner could really be that much trouble. Romanov considered using the distraction to attend to the more pressing part of her mission, disabling the tesseract core of the Pioneer, but May was standing in the corridor and had spotted her.

Romanov took the opportunity to shoot a few retreating soliders they ran down the hall. No sense in letting them regroup. She straightened up as May stopped, a length of pipe held menancingly before her. No skidding to a halt, no wasted motion. One moment moving lightning fast, and the next poised and still. Nice.

"Hey," Romanov said, casually raising her hands above her head, gun pointed upward.  "I'm here to rescue you."

May kept her weapon raised. "Good job," she said dryly. "That's a Pioneer security uniform you're wearing."

"Basic subtlety benefits everyone. Agent Natasha Romanov, SHIELD. Want a gun?"

May didn't smile, but she held out her hand, and Romanov tossed the gun to her. May caught it and examined it. "...The night-night gun. SHIELD sent you?"

"Yep." Romanov pulled out her spare gun. "Now, if it's not too forward for a first date, would you like to join me in the core control room?"

May thought it over. "We'll be trapped if we don't leave now."

Romanov started forward into the corridor past May. "Suit yourself. Keep them busy for me, okay?"

"Didn’t say I wasn't coming." May followed her, turning sideways to guard her Romanov's back.

**

The ship was organized like a conch shell, spiraling inward to the core room. They heard fast footsteps coming around the corridor. "Trust me," Romanov said and quickly stepped close to May, who went dangerously still. "Agent May, this is what I do."

"Get people to trust you?"

"Exactly."

May surrendered the gun back to Romanov.

"Arms behind your back," Romanov directed, and put the gun to May's temple. "Try to look helpless."

"I could kill you," May growled under her breath, putting her arms behind her back.

"See? I must trust you, too," Romanov whispered in her ear as the soliders came around the corner. Louder, she snapped, "I caught this one. The others are running for the escape hatch. Go, hurry."

They ran past her with a shout of thanks. Once they were gone, May twisted in Romanov's grip so quickly it left Romanov's wrists stinging.

It took Romanov another instant to realize May had both guns. She smiled. "They told me you were fast."

"Let's be clear, Romanov. I don't know you, and I don't trust you." May swept a look up and down the corridor, keeping tabs on their surroundings.

"No reason not to have fun together," Romanov said breezily, holding out her hand for the gun.

Glaring, May pushed the gun back into her hand.

**

A few fights later (not everyone had been taken in by the prisoner act), they reached the control room. Once they dispatched the guards, they looked around. The pilot, plugged into the ship, didn't take any notice of them. In the center of the room, a column of light pulsed, making Romanov dizzy with colors that her brain didn't seem able to process.

"Watch the door," Romanov said, striding to the nearest computer screen.

"I don't take orders from you," May said, watching her.

"Do you hack interstellar computer systems? I'm willing to trade." She started typing rapidly, eyes glued on the screen.

"Just hurry up," May growled.

Romanov settled into the rhythm of hacking the system. It had been locked down in some manner, probably due to May's escape, and she tried code after code, trying to persuade into stepping down from high alert. It wasn't going to give up any data while all systems were locked. Behind her, the light from the core flickered, and metal groaned distantly.

"Romanov, we need to get out of here," May interrupted.

"Hang on. I think that worked," Romanov blinked as the screen before her cleared and displayed: "LAUNCH SEQUENCE INITIATED," and the control room door slammed closed. The tesseract core bathed the room in brilliant green-purple light.

"Agent Romanov, what is working?"

"...Just, give me a minute..." Romanov said, eyes glued on the screen. "I think the pilot launched us. Maybe if I--"

May raised her gun and fired it at the pilot's head, who slumped unconscious in her chair, and the screen flickered uncertainly, and then displayed "COORDINATES SET," and then detailed displays of numbers.

"I think the system is tied to the pilot's consciousness," Romanov said. "The pilot who you just shot."

"That would have been helpful to know before I shot her," May ground out.

The ship shook under them.

"Maybe you shouldn't go around shooting people," Romanov retorted. "Anyway, I wasn't sure until everything locked down when you shot her. The system isn't responding at all now." She tapped a few keys, then spun around in her chair. "That's interesting. The pilot has to achieve a state of altered consciousness before the ship can launch."

The ship shook again, nearly knocking May off her feet. She dropped into a chair. "Just stop the ship, Romanov."

"Can't," Romanov admitted, buckling herself into the chair. "Not until the pilot wakes up. Ten seconds to liftoff."

"Let's relive the Cold War space race together, is that it?" May belted herself in as engines started to roar.

Romanov laughed, but the sound was drowned out as the roaring grew louder, and the core brightened, and brightened, until they couldn't see anything but light.

 


End file.
